Dan Swanö: Moontower

Dan Swanö needs no introduction in the metal community. He has had a long and successful career playing with various bands and producing others while dabbling in a variety of other projects. That being said, his most notable work would have to be with the band, Edge of Sanity. The band was one of the early pioneers of death metal in the Swedish scene and although their sound is most often described as progressive death metal, in my eyes they have plenty of melodic elements to be considered as much. Anyhow, the band released their debut in 1991 titled “Nothing but Death Remains” and continue to make waves in the Swedish scene until 1997, when Swanö would leave the band. (Although EOS would put one album out without Swanö). Much has been speculated about Swanö’s departure, but many believe it had to do with musical differences and the overall quality of music. Whatever the cause, Swanö, in his hiatus, formed a one man project aptly titled “Dan Swanö” and would release one full length album titled “Moontower”. Many would consider the album, the next album that Edge of Sanity would have release, had Swanö not departed, which is easy to assume once you hear “Moontower”.

Yes, this sounds like Edge of Sanity. I mean, Dan Swanö is, Edge of Sainty. In fact, after this release, he would return to the band, but as a one-man group and handle everything on his own for Edge of Sanity’s final album. So, naturally, “Moontower” was destined to sound like Edge of Sanity, but there are aspects that distance this project from the former. Swanö himself has stated this album would be what Rush would sound like if they played death metal and perhaps that’s not far off, but in any case, the sound Swanö creates on Moontower is a heavily keyboard driven sound played over Edge of Sanity’s brand of death metal.

As with many Edge of Sanity albums, Swanö’s iconic voice is on full display on this album and is one of two major sounds featured on “Moontower”. His dark growls carry a certain gloomy, yet peaceful tone with his faded rasp that has an almost echo sound in their foundation. He has the ability to add a level of harshness when certain passages transition to a heavier, guitar led sound, or he can slow his pace to match the progressive melodic sections of the keyboards, which give them more substance as the lyrics are fueled with much emotion. Swanö does exhibit some use of clean vocals such as on the track “Add Reality”, which remind me a bit of his cleans on “Infernal”, Edge of Sanity’s album prior to his departure, but they are seldom used on “Moontower”.

The second, most noticeable sound on “Moontower” would no doubt be the keyboards. Although the foundation of Edge of Sanity may be present throughout the album, “Moontower’s” use of keys certain distances itself from the former, not simply by including them into the sound, but just how much they are featured. The keys are the driving force on the majority of songs and for the most part, Swanö creates enough harmonious passages to allow the death metal side of his vision blend nicely with the proggy, synth side of things. His ability to weave the keys with the guitars make for some nice tradeoffs between the riff and solos, which he plays admirably on both instruments for that matter. There are times when the keys tend to overwhelm the song, but again, they are meant to be one of the main players of the album, so I suppose that was bound to happen. In any case, despite a few instances of what might be deemed ‘over use’, the keys give off one beautiful passage after another, displaying their technical and progressive abilities.

That being said, with keyboards being a focal point of the album, other areas would ultimately see a bit of a reduced role. The riffs for starters are well done and create a number of excellent leads throughout the album, but they sound excellent behind the layer of keyboard. What I mean is that, although catchy and rhythmic, the leads are essentially playing Robin to the keyboards Batman. They work well together, but the leads by themselves would need a little more polish if they had been the focal point of the music. The same could be said about the guitar solos, as, they are present, but not as much so as a typical Edge of Sanity album. Those that are however, are placed well within the song and are executed nicely.

The drums, also suffer a similar setback due to the keyboards, often being pushed into the background.  That being said, they are varied enough to create their own identity and do often play right along with the guitars to create a nice harmony during most songs. And the bass too, well, you get the point.

It’s not so much that instruments suffer from creativity or execution, nor do they song suffer from poor songwriting. The fact is, Swanö wanted his solo album to be keyboard-centric to provide his idea of the ‘Rush+Death metal’ sound and if the keys had been cheesy or poorly handled, it could have been a huge disaster. But, c’mon, this is Dan Swanö. He has he golden touch of Midas upon anything he’s involved within. He not only created and executed the sound he envisioned, but did so in an interesting and unique format that allowed fans of Edge of Sanity to enjoy said vision, but also reach out to those who enjoy a heavy dosage of keys in their metal as well. Overall, a fine album that only adds to the legend of Dan Swanö’s work.

Highlights: “Sun of the Night” “Patchworks” “Uncreation” (not a bad song on the album)

Rating: 4.5